G
Graymalkin
New member
I have finally decided to leave the comfortable world of analog recording, an am currently considering a new Gateway computer specifically for Steinberg VST recording software. Unfortunately, in this "information age", I'm having considerable trouble learning the basics before I buy. I have a goodly amount of equipment from my analog years (mics, effects, compressors, EQs, etc.). What I need to know is, what special equipment is necessary to record on computer? How to record, for example, acoustic instruments and vocals direct. Analog to digital converters required? Can mixdown be accomplished onto hard-drive, or seperate ADAT or DAT required? Can finished product be burned direct to CD? Basically, I'm looking for advice, or a tutorial, telling me, besides a computer and software, what additional gear is necessary! Any help would be most appreciated!
. Well first with the software I was going to use cubasis vst, but I'm turned off by the fact that it requires an external wave editor. So I'll probably be using cakewalk 9.0 instead. My personal opinion on your analog stuff is to keep and use it if you can. I would much rather use a standalone eq and than one on a pc. In my mind I think it is best to have your sound almost perfect before it ever gets to the pc instead of letting the software do your work. What if you ever perform live and sound nothing like your cd? anyway....If you buy a good soundcard(soundcards have the converters in them, usually preamps too..i think) you won't need anthing except mics and instruments. Although you may want to also use a soundboard/mixer for additional inputs. Other than that, analog and digital are quite the same. The nice thing about cakewalk is it has 4trk and 8trk recorders that look just like a standalone one. Very user friendly. From this forum I've found that the lynxone card has the best D/A A/D for the money about $450 to $5**. The catch is it only has 2 inputs. Mixdown is done on hardisk or you can send it to a ADAT,etc. Makesure your cd burner is "redbook" so you can play your cd's in any cdplayer(so they say), also don't use a recording speed more than 1x or 2x. I have a thread in the computer recording forum "yet another newbie computer recording question" or something like that. Anyhoo it has excellent guidelines on building a computer for recording. Also use the search function on this site it's very helpful. before i forget you may want to consider 2 harddrives. mainly for safety reasons.